How do you write bass lines?

Octagonist · 2023-05-30T13:50:58.438Z

percussionboy:

but if I started thinking about all this stuff, I’d be completely unable to think of a bassline.

This is avoidable, but takes work.

pick each suggestion in turn
act out each one a handful of times, perhaps once or twice a day for a few days if you really want to bed them in
forget about it
jam

percussionboy · 2023-05-30T14:51:08.013Z

Octagonist:

This is avoidable, but takes work.

pick each suggestion in turn

act out each one a handful of times, perhaps once or twice a day for a few days if you really want to bed them in

forget about it

jam

Agreed.

I’m not seriously arguing that there’s no value to generating ideas about how to make music—although I can see how my post might have sounded like that.

I was trying, with perhaps some irony, to put in a good word for just trusting your intuition, following what you “hear” internally or stumble onto as you’re playing … and go with that if it feels right.

Concrete ideas:
I agree with previous posts about learning basslines of others.

It helps to be used to dealing with chord progressions, to understand how a bassline relates to a progression. But sometimes that’s more a way to solve problems if you get stuck, or if something about a bassline you came up with sounds wrong against the track. If a bassline sounds good to you, it is good, even if it rubs against the chords in a funny way for a sec.

fwiw

MichaalHell · 2023-05-30T14:52:25.114Z

The definition of ”pocket” is literally kick and bass.

Octagonist · 2023-05-30T15:03:21.783Z

I had come to understand “pocket” to mean “when the groove clicks and everyone’s vibing”. Maybe I read the wrong sources.

dialectric · 2023-05-30T15:06:15.476Z

true fact, you can prove this by listening to music where the bass is mainly 808 subs in octaves and thirds/fifths.

keygen.exe · 2023-05-30T15:11:18.019Z

It’s a corny and uselessly vague term. Wish it would go away

LCVL · 2023-05-30T15:18:43.375Z

“Pocket” is when bass and drums (and/or other elements of the rhythm section) sit in the same groove.

Akio_Daku · 2023-05-30T15:50:42.756Z

I reckon the pocket is laying it back on the 2 and the 4. Like you could say “Put the snare in the pocket and swing the ride” you know what I mean?

Octagonist · 2023-05-30T15:59:56.870Z

The person who taught me the phrase “in the pocket” didn’t use it like that. Nor like the way I suggested above, nor like the way @MichaalHell used it. He was a choirmaster and we had no drums

So… I think @keygen.exe might be right…

keygen.exe:

It’s a corny and uselessly vague term. Wish it would go away

DrOrthogonal · 2023-05-30T16:49:51.572Z

I was interested in your comment about not using an arp…I wondered what your viewpoint was here?
I just created my last track by trying starting the process with an arpeggiated bass line and liked it.

bibenu · 2023-05-30T17:03:04.140Z

I don’t believe there is one unambiguous definition of ‘pocket’ … like ‘groove’ it means different things to different people.

MichaalHell · 2023-05-30T17:20:44.710Z

Lol, as this post shows

Octagonist · 2023-05-30T17:46:16.844Z

This thread is required reading for the topic at hand.

LCVL · 2023-05-31T14:06:37.509Z

Just the first 15 seconds.

sinktothesea · 2023-05-31T15:50:06.798Z

Starting the process with an arpeggiated bass line and then tweaking it, sure, I am totally down for that. Any source of inspiration is good. My point about arps (arpeggiators) was really about not using an arp to generate the whole bass line for you. I do not know of any arps that are specifically coded to generate bass lines or progressions, and certainly none that will accent, slide, and modulate the bass line for you.

A personal opinion that may be unduly influencing my perspective: I think that bass parts (for string bass, electric bass, tuba) written for classical, polka, jazz, etc., that are arpeggios simply sound pretty bad, and at best predictable. It is like the composer writes the bass part last, or thinks that bass is unimportant melodically, or basically has little clue of what to do.

g3o2 · 2023-05-31T17:05:48.878Z

sinktothesea:

I do not know of any arps that are specifically coded to generate bass lines or progressions, and certainly none that will accent, slide, and modulate the bass line for you.

so you don’t know KARMA ? That’s exactly what it does, albeit it remains machine generated with seed randomness …

It is like the composer writes the bass part last, or thinks that bass is unimportant melodically, or basically has little clue of what to do.

That was until recently often my issue with bass. As a pianist, bass is not the same as bass

maymind_trax · 2023-05-31T18:39:55.294Z

Something that I find interesting about writing bass lines is the complexity of the part will greatly vary depending on when in the session I work on the bass part. If I’m working on something with a lot of drums, I have a great melody going and things are flowing, I’ll usually add bass almost last and just add something that is pretty simple and reinforces whats already happening, maybe doubling a few melodic lines. However if I’m starting with drums and bass and trying to create a groove that gets me going, I almost always make a bass part that is overly complex and has too much going on. I’ll often then strip it back when other instruments are added. Anyone else relate?

elxsound · 2023-05-31T18:49:17.288Z

Exactly, because context does make a difference.

Is the bass a focal point, is it supportive, is it the time keeper and then knowing bass can be all of those at different points or simultaneously.

Then, is it funky, is it busy, mellow or simple. Is it melodic, or percusssive? Does it push the rhythm, drag it back.

If someone were to listen to all of the songs posted, they would find a wide range of approach to playing bass and its role in the song, just as much as the individual definition of good or great bass.

g3o2 · 2023-06-01T01:29:17.554Z

I can certainly relate to this. In order to reserve some space for bass during the songwriting process and to make the outcome less dependent on the order in which I write the parts, I have become more careful with:

huge or dense chords, instead using sparse versions more often,
notes played in the lower register, reserved for a few select sounds only,
the use of reverb, especially on pads, instead adapting the amp env release time of the sound,
stereo sounds, now recording mono (and/or without stereo effects) more often, especially for fat and lush analog sounds.

LCVL · 2023-06-01T05:09:29.218Z

Yes, it’s called arranging.